Great American Bites: NYC's Carnegie Deli, popular for a reason

Every wall of the crowded dining rooms is covered with photos of celebrity guests. Set up to deal with large volumes of diners efficiently, the deli hires waiters who are speedy and extremely professional. (Photo: Larry Olmsted for USA TODAY)

This is the chicken soup with a combo of matzoh balls and kreplach (a Jewish spin on wontons). It is delicious and huge. Think twice before ordering a sandwich and a side or starter. (Photo: Larry Olmsted for USA TODAY)

The scene: From the outside, the world's most famous delicatessen is unremarkable. Carnegie Deli looks like countless other Big Apple neighborhood eateries except for the huge line out the door, often stretching down the block, especially at midday on weekends. Named for its location near Carnegie Hall, this venerable eatery has occupied the same storefront on Seventh Avenue, between 54th and 55th streets, since 1937. The line moves surprising quickly, both because service is brisk and efficient, and also because inside it is much larger than it appears, going back with multiple dining rooms. Ordering to go is another option and a way to beat the wait.

You enter and are led past the deli counter itself (and the cash register where you settle up), back into the inner sanctum of food frenzy. The vast expanse of wall space is covered with a stunning assortment of celebrity photos of diners from over the last eight decades, representing the worlds of sports, politics and entertainment. Currently, President Obama's photo enjoys the spot of honor, while above our table was famously erratic Yankees manager Billy Martin. The best known regular local patron, Woody Allen, is the only one with a sandwich named after him.

Eating at the Carnegie Deli is a prototypical New York experience: loud, harried, very professional, a bit rushed and everyone elbow to elbow with not nearly enough room on the small tables for the vast groaning plates of food. Simplicity is everything here, from the classic diner coffee mugs to the never-miss-a beat-staff. The Carnegie Deli is a very popular tourist experience, yet beloved by locals as well, creating an incredibly diverse customer base.

The food: If you haven't been before, you probably should start with the two staples, pastrami or corned beef - or both. And you shouldn't go alone -- while it can take longer to get seated with a bigger party, the dining experience is best suited to a group of 6 or so, because the portions are monstrously big and there are so many things worth trying. The menu is what's known as Kosher-style, since it is packed with traditional Jewish specialties, but it is most definitely not Kosher, with ham and bacon served and cheese gladly mixed with meats.

The Carnegie Deli smokes its own meats and cures its own corned beef and pickles at a facility across the river in New Jersey, making it one of the very few remaining delis to do all this work itself. While New York pastrami devotees will argue whether or not this is the city's very best, it is doubtless among the best, and thus better than the pastrami you will find almost anywhere in the world. Don't even compare it to the sad stuff you buy at a supermarket deli.

The basic sandwiches — a choice of pastrami, corned beef, roast beef, brisket, tongue, chopped liver, turkey, salami or bologna — typically pack in about a pound of meat, several inches high between slices of rye bread. They are a challenge for even the hungry. The more famous "Carnegie Gargantuan Combos," are basically impossible to finish — let alone pick up — unless you are on some sort of Man vs. Food challenge. Many are triple deckers with several inches of meat and accompaniments between each layer, like the corned beef, tongue and turkey with cole slaw and Russian dressing. Easily the most popular choice — and great for sharing ($3 surcharge!) — is the classic Woody Allen: a half pastrami, half corned beef monstrosity stacked with nearly 8-inches of meat. It's normal to ask for extra bread and break this down into several merely large sandwiches.

I've been to the Carnegie Deli many times over the past few decades, so I often try to range further afield, since the menu is as vast as the food. There are also hot sandwiches with gravy, open- and closed-face sandwich platters; plates of smoked fish, salads of chicken, tuna, egg and shrimp served every imaginable way; entrée platters like a half roast chicken or beef short ribs; many hot dogs and wurst offerings; humongous pot meal soups; a full breakfast menu; burgers; seafood fried or broiled, and even potato skins. But the things to get here are things that are hard to get elsewhere. That would be the deli meats, starting with pastrami, which is the best, while the corned beef is good but not great. The other unique offerings are the Jewish traditional foods, including matzoh ball soup, knishes, blintzes, borscht, stuffed cabbage, kasha, gefilte fish, kreplach and potato pancakes, to name just a few. One worthy flavor combo worth considering in lieu of a sandwich is Chef Jeff's Favorite, an enormous knish butterflied and covered with pastrami or corned beef.

Among the expansive menu are some standouts, including the excellent pastrami and the superlative chicken soup, an awesomely rich broth that may be the best ever, poured over a bowlful of your choice of matzoh balls, noodles or kreplach (meat-filled Jewish wontons). The pickles are fantastic: sour and half-sour versions served whole (the sour are very sour). So are the egg creams, a nearly extinct and very old-school New York beverage treat that has nothing to do with egg. Rather it's chocolate syrup (Fox's U-Bet) mixed with milk and seltzer for a sort of lightly carbonated chocolate milk, very refreshing (they also serve vanilla egg creams).

Otherwise, expect that almost anything you order will be oversized, simple and across the board good but not great. Huge knishes (a bit too dry and crunchy outside), mounds of boiled perogen and dumplings stuffed with meat (sort of Jewish ravioli) are all hearty but bland. The potato pancakes come as a trio, each as big as a slab of veal parmesan. The knish is a meal in itself. The chicken soup left over in the tin pot after filling your first bowl is enough for a whole second meal. We went with six hungry adults and shared a combo sandwich, a regular sandwich and some Jewish specialties, and had plenty of food to spare.

Do leave room for the simply awesome cheesecake. The Carnegie Deli is famous for this and ships its cakes all over the world to satisfy cravings. Like the pastrami, this is a real New York specialty and serious fans may have a preferred competitor (S&S or Junior's) but for 99% of the visitors who walk through the door, this is the best they will ever have. The cheesecake with fresh strawberries is the best option, but make sure they have fresh berries, as the plain is better than the version with jarred strawberry goo.

What regulars say: "You go there for lunch and then you have your leftovers for dinner, so it's two meals in one. Before I moved to New York, I had never tasted anything like this pastrami," said Claire Hunter, who works in a midtown law firm.

Pilgrimage-worthy?: Yes – for an ultra-authentic and quintessentially New York experience you won't get at one of the city's many gourmet palaces.

Larry Olmsted has been writing about food and travel for more than 15 years. An avid eater and cook, he has attended cooking classes in Italy, judged a BBQ contest and once dined with Julia Child. Follow him on Twitter, @TravelFoodGuy, and if there's a unique American eatery you think he should visit, send him an e-mail at travel@usatoday.com. Some of the venues reviewed by this column provided complimentary services.